Improvement in quilting-frames



UNITED STATES PATENT OE IoE.

BEVERLY BLAOKSTONE, OF WARREN, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN QUILTING-FRAMES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 138,369, dated April29, 1873; application filed February 8, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BEVERLY BLACK- STONE, of Warren, in the county of Jo Daviess and State of Illinois, have invented a new and valuableImprovement in Quilting-Frames; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the constructionand operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawingmaking a part of this specification, and to the letters and figures ofreference marked thereon.

Figure 1 of the drawing is a representation of a plan view of myinvention. Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the same.

My invention relates to certain improvements in quilting-frames, wherebythe frame may be contracted or expanded to' any desired size; and itconsists in making the sides of the frame of sliding bars, each barbeing composed of two pieces, so arranged that it may be lengthened-orshortened at pleasure, and providedwith keepers to prevent their lateralseparation, and with set-screws to prevent their longitudinaldisplacement. The invention further consists in the peculiar manner ofconnecting the ends of the bars to form the frame, the side rails orbars having pivots at their ends which engage with sockets in the endrails or bars, and are held in place by pivoted loops or keepers.

In the drawing, A A represent the side rails, and B B the end rails ofthe frame. The pieces A A and B B composing the respective rails areplaced side by side, and are held together by means of keepers at Mt b,consisting of strips of metal, bent so as to form three sides of asquare, passed around three sides of one of the pieces, and having theirends secured to two sides of the adjacent piece, so that the pieces mayslide freely longitudinally, but cannot be separated laterally. The barsare lengthened or shortened by sliding them longitudinally, and are heldat the desired lengths by tightening the screws 0, which pass throughone piece and bear against the other. The ends of the side rails A Ahave pivots 19 extending outward from them and passing into holes nearthe ends of the end rails B B, in which position they are held bykeepers 70, consisting of metallic bars of similar form, but longer thanthe keepers a a b b, and having their ends pivoted to the rails A A, sothat they may be readily passed over the ends of the rails B B. A squareor rectangular frame is thus formed, which may be readily increased ordiminished in size, or the parts detached at pleasure and set away.

When this frame is used to quilt an article larger than the frame can bemade, or to accommodate the full size of which would re quire the frameto occupy too much space in the room, the frame is adjusted to thedesired width, and one edge of the quilt is attached to one of the siderails, and the excess over the width of the frame is rolled around theopposite side rail. When the quilting of the accessible portion iscompleted, it is rolled around the first-mentioned rail and unrolledfrom the opposite one, which operation is accomplished without movingthe frame from the supports which it rests upon, by simply turning backthe keepers It, so that the rails will turn freely on the pivots 19until the quilt occupies the desired position on the frame, when thekeepers k are replaced over the ends of the rails B B, and the frame isagain ready for use.

The end rails B B may be provided with hooks to facilitate the attachingand detaching of the quilt to those portions.

This frame need not be confined to the quilting of large articles, suchas quilts and comforts, but may be made of any desired size and used asan embroidery-framayor to hold articles to be quilted by asewing-machine, in which latter use the device will be found veryadvantageous.

What I-claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a quilting-frame, the adjustable bars or rails A A B B, heldtogether by the keep ers to a b b and and set-screws c, substantially asshown and described.

2. The keepers 7c, in combination with the pivoted side rails A A andend rails B B, ar-

ranged to operate substantially as shown and described.

In testimony that I claim the above I have hereunto subscribed my namein the presence of two witnesses. I

BEVERLY BLAGKSTONE.

Witnesses RoBT. J. BAYNE, W. H. SHEEK.

